RCMP hope recording of man’s voice will lead to missing woman

On the evening of Aug. 18, 2010, Amber Tuccaro was on a gravel road outside Edmonton with an unknown man, worried that he was taking her somewhere she didn’t want to go.

“Yo, we’re not going into the city are we?” she asked him.

“We are,” he promised. “Yes, we’re going into the city.”

It was the last time Amber was seen or heard from alive.

On Tuesday, the RCMP’s Project KARE investigators released a recording of the conversation, in the hope someone will recognize the man’s voice and identify him to police.

Amber’s mother, Vivian, trembled and fought back tears as she made a plea to the public.

“Please, listen to the man’s voice, and if you recognize it, call the police,” she said. “Please. Please, help us bring Amber home.”

The conversation with the unknown man was recorded while Amber spoke on her cellphone to another person. The voice of the third person is not heard on the tape, and RCMP will not say who she was speaking to, or how they obtained the recording.

Const. Ray Shelton, the lead investigator in the case, said the recording is a disturbing but important piece of evidence.

“It’s important that as many people listen to this audio as possible, and if they recognize the voice of this individual, that they call investigators with that information,” he said.

RCMP say Amber had flown from Fort McMurray to the Edmonton airport on Aug. 17, 2010, with her then-14-month-old son, Jacob, and a female friend. The three stayed overnight in a hotel in Nisku, and Amber left by herself the next evening to go to Edmonton.

Shelton said Amber got into the man’s vehicle between 7:30 and 8 p.m., she is believed to have gone with him because she was finding a ride into the city.

The minute-long recording appears to contain five separate segments of conversation between Amber and the man, and begins with Amber asking him where they are.

The man tells Amber they are heading south of Beaumont, then corrects himself to say north. Amber then repeats the information, seemingly passing it along to the person on the phone.

Throughout the recording, Amber repeatedly asks the man where they are going, and appears not to believe him when he strongly insists they are going to the city.

“You better not be taking me anywhere I don’t want to go,” she says, at one point. “I wanna go into the city, OK?”

At one point the man mentions “back roads,” and at another point, “gravel.”

“Where the f— are these roads going to?” she asks him.

“To 50th Street,” he tells her.

“50th Street,” she repeats. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” he says.

The conversation ends with the tone of the call being disconnected. Portions of the conversation are inaudible.

RCMP say they believe the man was not going to Edmonton, but that he drove south and east of Nisku, into rural Leduc County.

Amber’s mother sobbed and left the room as the video was played for the media at RCMP headquarters.

One version of the recording contains the voices of both Amber and the man. In the other, Amber’s voice has been removed, so the man’s voice can be heard in a more concentrated way.

The man heard on the tape has not been formally described by RCMP as a suspect, but is being referred to as a “person of interest” in Amber’s disappearance.

RCMP spokesman Shawn LeMay said releasing the piece of audio evidence is unusual, but that investigators believe it is the right thing.

“We are doing this with careful thought and with purpose …,” he said. “Clearly our collective goal is to find Amber, and we will stop at nothing to locate her.”

Reading from a prepared statement with her family sitting nearby, a tearful Vivian Amber said her daughter’s disappearance is the most painful thing she has ever lived through.

“There are no words to describe the pain our family feels,” she said. “Since her disappearance, our world has been torn apart. Amber is missed and loved so much. Our lives are not complete without her.”

Anyone who recognizes the voice of the man on the recording is asked to immediately call investigators at 1-877-412-KARE (5273), or 780-509-3356.

Amber Tuccaro is described as being five-foot-six in height, with brown eyes, and shoulder-length black hair with blond streaks. She may have been wearing a purple ‘Bench’ brand hoodie when she disappeared.